Cape Town — Tensions within the African National Congress (ANC) have grown following Joburg Mayor, Dada Morero’s proposal to employ foreigners in the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD).
Morero had suggested, during a regional executive committee (REC) that the JMPD should appoint documented foreign nationals in the JMPD to help address issues such as language barriers.
He later withdrew his proposal and apologised to residents following stern rejection from many within the party. including Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi. He acknowledged that his suggestion was not in line with ANC and government policies.
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According to The Citizen, sources in the party believe there is a clique within the party that wants to bring Morero down as some feel he has made noises about improving the finances in the municipality, which would reduce corruption and theft.
ANC veteran, Mavuso Msimang, dismissed the claims that he had called for Morero’s sacking, which fuelled speculation that other ANC leaders were calling for Morero’s sacking. Msimang, however, slammed those who shamefully used his name and denied any bad words towards Morero, the report said.
He also questioned why and how a matter that was discussed at a closed meeting, which Morero apologised for, was made public and said it showed a lack of discipline within the party.
Msimang alleged that it was a member of the NEC who did not want to be named, but said if anyone was involved in immoral activities, they should not be taken seriously. He said this incident occurred because someone was upset that Morero was awarded the mayorship.
According to TimesLIVE, former MMCs for public safety in Joburg, David Tembe and Michael Sun, believe establishing a stronger unit in the JMPD would be a step in the right direction.
Tembe, who also served as JMPD police chief, said the problem was that police were using a “fishnet” to tackle crime. He suggested a specialised unit like the ones seen in New York, to tackle different types of crime.
Tembe said, shortly before the end of his tenure, he had planned with former Home Affairs Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, to establish the special unit, not only the JMPD, to deal with immigrants.
“Those were the things we were discussing training the metro police to work with. Metro police are not trained in terms of identifying foreigners who might have fraudulent documents, but if you have a handheld device it will pick that up,” he said.
Sun thought the mayor’s utterances were not thought through and provoked unnecessary emotions, citing the country’s high unemployment as an issue. He said it was insensitive for Morero to disregard unemployed South Africans.
Both Sun and Tembe suggested that those fighting crime need to understand it and have the resources available to deal with crime, as well as a need to deal with the victims.
“He simply just wants to address the one aspect, and that is to prevent foreign nationals from speaking other languages in front of the police officers or to understand what they are saying. That, certainly for me, will not resolve the crime,” Sun said,
Tembe said the crimes that involve foreign nationals are hijacking of buildings, human trafficking and selling of drugs.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
